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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Final Co-conspirator Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Role in Texas Homicide

WASHINGTON – A New Caney, Texas, woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for her role in a homicide that took place in Nacogdoches, Texas, in August 2007, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John M. Bales for the Eastern District of Texas.

Carrie Christine Wood, 38, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone in Beaumont, Texas, on Feb. 17, 2011, to committing violent crime in aid of racketeering activity related to the murder of David Mitchamore.

According to information presented in court, Wood was a close associate and confidant of her co-defendant, Carl Carver, a general of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT). The ABT is a race-based, state-wide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and the United States. The ABT enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, are required to follow the orders of higher ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”

According to court documents, Mitchamore, aka “Super Dave,” an ABT member, and his girlfriend, Christie Rochelle Brown, were murdered by Wood’s co-defendant Brent Stalsby as a result of a “direct order” issued by Carver because of Mitchamore’s failure to repay an outstanding debt he allegedly owed to an Aryan Brotherhood general. Wood communicated the direct order from Carver to Charles Cameron Frazier, who then responded to the jail where Carver was incarcerated to receive further instructions from Carver about Mitchamore’s punishment. The bodies of Mitchamore and Brown were discovered in Nacogdoches County on Aug. 10, 2007.

On June 27, 2011, Carver was sentenced to life in prison. On May 25, 2011, Brent Stalsby was sentenced to life in federal prison and Terry Stalsby, who was present when the “direct order” issued by Carver was delivered to Frazier, was sentenced to 162 months in federal prison. Frazier was sentenced on June 22, 2011, to life in prison. April Flanagan was sentenced on April 26, 2011, to 180 months in prison after she admitted, among other things, that she knew and approved of the plan to murder Mitchamore, and provided ABT members with the shotgun used to murder Mitchamore and Brown.

“With today’s sentencing of Carrie Wood, all of the conspirators involved in the murders of David Mitchamore and Christie Brown have now been held accountable for their crimes,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “Whether gang members and their associates pull the trigger or provide support for violent crimes, they will be brought to justice. ABT traffics in fear, intimidation and violence. But, as this case shows, the department is committed to dismantling criminal enterprises like ABT and holding their members criminally responsible.”

“With the conviction and sentencing of Carrie Wood, the last remaining defendant in this case has answered for her crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Bales. “We promised to bring David Mitchamore’s and Christie Brown’s killers to justice and we have done that. But equally important is our commitment and effort to neutralize the ABT in east Texas. To that end, we will continue to investigate and prosecute the criminal activities of the ABT until we have completely diminished its menace. The agents and officers working on this case and others like it are doing a superlative job for their fellow citizens – I congratulate them.”

This case was investigated by the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement and Coordination Center (Gang-TECC); the Nacogdoches Sheriff’s Department; the Nacogdoches Police Department; the Angelina County, Texas, Sheriff’s Department; the Texas Department of Public Safety; and the Texas Rangers. The case is being prosecuted by the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Lufkin, Texas, and the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, in full cooperation with the Nacogdoches County District Attorney’s Office.